NEW YORK — Jay McGwire heard big
brother Mark say last month he only took steroids to heal, and not to
get stronger. That doesn't match Jay McGwire's recollection.
"Mark knew that he was going to get
the strength and endurance and size. I know that the main motive to
justify taking steroids was healing," Jay McGwire said in an interview
with The Associated Press. "I know that for a fact. But in the long run
he knew the strength and the size and endurance will increase. I don't
know why he's coming across that it was all healing."
Estranged from his brother for eight
years because of a family dispute, Jay McGwire has gone public in Mark
and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball's Worst-Kept Secret,
which is scheduled for publication Monday by TriumphBooks.
When he finally admitted last month
that he used steroids, Mark McGwire said it was only for healing. His
brother said that was the initial purpose but it's obvious the slugger
also gained strength.
Jay McGwire says in the book he
persuaded his brother to start using steroids regularly in 1994 and set
him up with a supplier. He says Mark regularly used an array of drugs
that included Deca-Durabolin, human growth hormone, Dianabol, Winstrol
and Primobolan in addition to androstenedione, a steroid precursor that
wasn't banned by baseball until 2004, when it became a controlled
substance in 2004.
Jay McGwire, who turns 40 on May 5,
said he was introduced to steroids by bodybuilder friends in 1989,
beginning with pills of Anavar.